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According to figures from the FBI and the U.S. Office of
Management and Budget, Comey's annual salary as of January 2015
was $183,300. Without a raise or bonus, Comey will make $1.34
million over the remainder of his job.
That suggests the FBI paid the largest ever publicized fee for a
hacking job, easily surpassing the $1 million paid by U.S.
information security company Zerodium to break into phones.
Speaking at the Aspen Security Forum in London, Comey was asked
by a moderator how much the FBI paid for the software that
eventually broke into the iPhone.
"A lot. More than I will make in the remainder of this job,
which is seven years and four months for sure," Comey said. "But
it was, in my view, worth it."
The Justice Department said in March it had unlocked the San
Bernardino shooter's iPhone with the help of an unidentified
third party and dropped its case against Apple Inc <AAPL.O>,
ending a high-stakes legal clash but leaving the broader fight
over encryption unresolved.
Comey said the FBI will be able to use software used on the San
Bernardino phone on other 5C iPhones running IOS 9 software.
There are about 16 million 5C iPhones in use in the United
States, according to estimates from research firm IHS
Technology. Eighty-four percent of iOS devices overall are
running iOS 9 software, according to Apple.
The FBI gained access to the iPhone used by Rizwan Farook, one
of the shooters who killed 14 people in San Bernardino,
California on Dec. 2.
The case raised the debate over whether technology companies'
encryption technologies protect privacy or endanger the public
by blocking law enforcement access to information.
(Reporting by Julia Edwards in Washington; additional reporting
by Julia Love in San Francisco; Editing by Simon Cameron-Moore)
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